Torres Abarca Wins O'Neill Coldwater Classic Wildcard

The 2014 O'Neill Coldwater Classic Invitational wildcard has been given to Costa Rica's Jeison Torres Abarca. The event will take place at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, California from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 and will award one lucky winner a life-changing year-long O'Neill Wetsuits contract worth $50,000 in travel incentives and contest fees.

Thousands of votes were cast in the public online poll in which 26-year-old Abarca earned a solid 44 percent of the vote with his winning video submission. Abarca earned his spot into the acclaimed event by winning an online voting contest against three other surfers: Leif Engstrom (31%), Kadin Panesi (15 percent) and Austin Smith-Ford (10 percent).

Abarca will join the field of 15 other uncoordinated surfers invited to compete in the ASP Specialty event. All 16 surfers have one thing in common: none has a major sponsor and the $50,000 grand prize could change their life by giving them the rare opportunity to spend a full year competing on the World Qualifying Series (QS) circuit to chase their World Championship Tour (WCT) dreams.

Learn more and follow all of the action live at www.oneill.com and on Twitter using #oneillcwc.